UniMak - looking good

Isata contemplating a future in development work and communication.

The tertiary education options in Sierra Leone often leave me feeling almost desperate.  We preach a message of destruction of inequalities through education but in practice we find that the right connections and the willingness to pay on the side is what really makes it possible to make progress at tertiary level.  Our students, not having access to either short cut, are seriously disadvantaged, not that we would want them to use those means but we do want them to have equal access to progress and get the grades they deserve when they study hard.

Yesterday, a small delegation went to visit the University of Makeni, UniMak.  What a difference!  Their reputation is indeed in strong contrast to that of all other tertiary institutions in the country but it was great to see and get a feel for the place for ourselves.  UniMak is run by the Roman Catholic Church and seeks to give good quality education to poorer people and to have an ethos that tackles the daily corruption that suppresses progress in the country.  Sound familiar?  It felt like meeting EducAid's big brother.  There are fees to pay but they also seek scholarships for needy cases when they can.  A lot of energy is going into improving the facilities and getting good quality lecturers and making sure that the education provided is of the highest standard possible.

We really hope that this will become a good solution for many of our young people who gain sponsorship into tertiary education.  It is not encouraging to get sponsors to may for something that will never be forthcoming in full because of corrupt systems.  If our students get in to UniMak we are far more confident that sponsors will get what they are paying for.  Hopefully, Isata, currently working in the Girls' Safe House, will be one of the first to put this theory to the test.  She seemed excited by her findings yesterday and will confirm her choice in the next few weeks.  The prospect of doing Development Studies with a possibility of working with the local radio station as part of her course had her beaming with delight!

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk or www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com

Emily hits the roads of Paris for EducAid

Emily née Inman

Emily is training for the Paris marathon and will run to raise monies for EducAid.  She has set up a Just-Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/Emily-OHare.
Please do support her!

We are happy to be able to confirm that, as all overheads are covered by the trustees, all donations will go directly to the project and change the lives of some of the most vulnerable young people in the world.

It costs approximately £10 per month to educate one student for a month (£120 per year).  It costs approximately £100 per month to cover the costs for one teacher (£1200 per year).  It costs approximately £1000 per year to support a quality enhancement programme for teacher training for a whole school (EducAid has a project supporting subject teacher upgrading for some of the schools around the Port Loko area where less than 40% of teachers are trained and qualified. We hope to have an impact on a really good number of children through this new initiative.)

All the best with your training, Emily.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com 

Easy Fundraising

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

If you follow this link, you can raise money for free by doing your online shopping through this link.  Please do, it is very quick and easy to do and EducAid benefits from every online penny you spend.

Thank you.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com

Drs Rebecca Horn and Sean Higgins complete the first round of research skills training

Big smiles for the end of the first course.

The new Rolal Teacher Training and Resource centre is in action.  There are a couple of things to finish off in terms of plastering and fixing doors and windows but the centre is usable as is.  It is a wonderful airy space which will be used by many teachers over the months and years to come. 

It was great to see the new space in use by the Research Skills trainees.  A mixture of staff and students were trained by Rebecca and Sean in some very active research skills for two excitable weeks.  There are two more weeks of putting the new knowledge into practice to produce some research reports about some key educational issues relevant to the Port Loko area and indeed to EducAid's work.  

Rebecca is now writing up the handbook that will make it possible for the staff to pass on the training to other groups for which there is much enthusiasm!

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com

Surprising she only lost her voice!

With Jane's enthusiastic leaping about and charging round the village, with the Sparrows class, we are quite surprised she has only lost her voice!

Jane Harris, criminology lecturer from the UK, has been in Maronka for three weeks and is settling in well.  She left her academic work so that she could 'get her hands dirty' and she is as good as her word.  Nervous that she would not have the requisite skills when she joined forces with ABJ, the sparrows class teacher, to teach the little ones their letters and sound, she has quickly found her feet and realises that she has lots and lots to offer.

Not only has Jane been teaching phonics but has realised that she can do very important work even training them in following instructions and simple following of routines.

A big thank you for all her hard work.  It is greatly appreciated.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.educaidsierraleone.blogspot.com

Registration of all schools! Yes Yes Yes!

Mabinty, in class 4, will be able to sit the exams under
EducAid Maronka when she gets to the top of the school.

In the early days, I had to try and register some of the schools.  I went to the Ministry of Education zillions of times.  I filled in the forms to have them 'lost' three times.  It was made clear that if I had no little (or big) envelopes for those concerned with doing the stamping and signing, I could forget it.  In fact, I was even threatened with being fined for running illegal schools!  After five years of being treated like a complete idiot because I would not bribe, I eventually had break through when the government changed and the new minister wanted to be seen to be doing good things. I nearly cried when I was handed the exam centre numbers - the evidence of our new legal status.

Recently, we have had to get some further EducAid sites registered.  My heart sank at the likely game playing and time wasting I was to face.  I did waste 1 year hoping that the then Deputy Director of Education for Port Loko was doing what he promised but..........
However, I was given the opportunity, in September, to meet the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs Sia Koroma, when she was travelling through Lungi when I was there meeting somebody and she told me to come back and meet her in her office so she could help me.  She has!  Her little note to the Minister has opened the doors of the ministry and within 1 month of completing our application forms for the registration Rolal Senior Secondary School, Rogbere Junior Secondary School and Maronka Primary School are all registered and have their official legal exam centre status.  The kids will be able to take public exams under their own centres and not be removed to another part of the country.

What an enormous relief!

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com

Easy fundraising

This is for all you online shoppers...... If you register online by clicking on the link below, the Easy Fundraising website will send us a cheque periodically with money that gets generated on the side of all your online purchases.

Please do.  I just did and it takes only moments.  As most of you are aware, things are difficult all across the non-profit sector at the moment.  This is not different for EducAid and recently we have had to cut into some of our core activities in order to keep our heads above water. e.g. We are looking at shortening the school day as of January as we are no longer able to feed the day students. ..... so every bit helps!

If you ever do any online shopping, or even if you think you don't (because you might in the process find it is cheap and easy to do so) please do sign up.  We will be most appreciative and you will definitely be making a difference to our work in Sierra Leone.

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com